«

The TV man called. When he took the cover off and switched the power on,
there were bright sparks of thousands of volts sparking and banging away
inside. It was the things at the back of the tube. The wire is the one that
carries an enormous voltage and sticks on to the back of the tube.

He cut out the burnt wire and got the power going, but has had to take the
inners away to see what else may have been damaged. He says the new
electronic stuff damages more than the old valves.

He's going to let us know what it would cost to repair. If it's possible and
reasonable we will have it done, otherwise we will get a new set.

That will be our fourth since the 1960s. We started with a small black and
white one.
Three sets in fifty years or so isn't bad. And the others were still working
when we replaced them.

We shall see.

Thanks to all
Geopelia

On Wed, 6 Jun 2012 13:57:42 +1200, "Geopelia" <>
wrote:

>The TV man called. When he took the cover off and switched the power on,
>there were bright sparks of thousands of volts sparking and banging away
>inside. It was the things at the back of the tube. The wire is the one that
>carries an enormous voltage and sticks on to the back of the tube.


We fix them on the spot use rtv silicone its a simple job..


Never ever seen innards damaged by that kind of fault..



>He cut out the burnt wire and got the power going, but has had to take the
>inners away to see what else may have been damaged. He says the new
>electronic stuff damages more than the old valves.
>
>He's going to let us know what it would cost to repair. If it's possible and
>reasonable we will have it done, otherwise we will get a new set.
>
> That will be our fourth since the 1960s. We started with a small black and
>white one.
>Three sets in fifty years or so isn't bad. And the others were still working
>when we replaced them.
>
>We shall see.
>
>Thanks to all
>Geopelia
>

"Frank Williams" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Wed, 6 Jun 2012 13:57:42 +1200, "Geopelia" <>
> wrote:
>
>>The TV man called. When he took the cover off and switched the power on,
>>there were bright sparks of thousands of volts sparking and banging away
>>inside. It was the things at the back of the tube. The wire is the one
>>that
>>carries an enormous voltage and sticks on to the back of the tube.
>
>
> We fix them on the spot use rtv silicone its a simple job..
>
>
> Never ever seen innards damaged by that kind of fault..
>

He had to cut the burnt bit of the wire out. It didn't look very simple.
Perhaps I haven't described it well enough.
We'll see what he thinks when he has inspected it.
>
>
>>He cut out the burnt wire and got the power going, but has had to take the
>>inners away to see what else may have been damaged. He says the new
>>electronic stuff damages more than the old valves.
>>
>>He's going to let us know what it would cost to repair. If it's possible
>>and
>>reasonable we will have it done, otherwise we will get a new set.
>>
>> That will be our fourth since the 1960s. We started with a small black
>> and
>>white one.
>>Three sets in fifty years or so isn't bad. And the others were still
>>working
>>when we replaced them.
>>
>>We shall see.
>>
>>Thanks to all
>>Geopelia
>>

Somewhere on teh intarwebs Geopelia wrote:
> The TV man called. When he took the cover off and switched the power
> on, there were bright sparks of thousands of volts sparking and
> banging away inside. It was the things at the back of the tube. The
> wire is the one that carries an enormous voltage and sticks on to the
> back of the tube.
> He cut out the burnt wire and got the power going, but has had to
> take the inners away to see what else may have been damaged. He says
> the new electronic stuff damages more than the old valves.
>
> He's going to let us know what it would cost to repair. If it's
> possible and reasonable we will have it done, otherwise we will get a
> new set.
> That will be our fourth since the 1960s. We started with a small
> black and white one.
> Three sets in fifty years or so isn't bad. And the others were still
> working when we replaced them.

Hi Geopelia,

Sadly the days of appliances that last for 20+ years are long gone. Sometime
before you bought that last set pretty much every company world-wide started
designing a planned life-span into their products. With the cheapest brands
it's usually not much longer than the warranty period. If you pay a bit (or
a lot) more you might get two to five years on top of the warranty period
before they fail. It's actually quite easy for the companies to do this and
do it they do!

Also, with the exception of a small number of minor faults, it's not worth
getting post ~1995 electical appliances repaired as, if you replace one
faulty module it still won't be long until the next one fails, then the
next.... (There's little repairing going on these days, it's all module
replacement.) The companies do this as they need people to buy product so
that they can stay in business. Back when you and I were young the companies
could build great, long-lasting products and would get more business by
word-of-mouth, happy customers telling their friends.

That was back in the days when most people didn't have a [insert appliance
of choice here], it was a brave new world and people were becoming more
prosperous and technology was able to make their lives easier. Unfortunately
these days, at least in 'developed' countries, most everyone already has
that appliance and the only way to get another sale is if it fails. It's
called built-in (or planned) obsolescence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Built-i...and_durability

I deplore this state of affairs but, until the landfills are taller than the
skyscrapers, I don't see it changing without legislation - and that's
unlikely to happen as long as elections cost money so need donations from
business.

In some instances, like computers (at least up until the lasy few years) and
televisions it's not quite as bas as the jobs required of them are changing
quickly, so older hardware often leaves its owner living with some serious
conpromises. However, once digital TV achieves market saturation and now
that home PCs are plenty powerful enough to do anything that could be asked
of them by the home user in the foreseeable future there will be no excuse
for those fields either.

Personally, as I'm basically house-bound (not just for medical reasons but
also increasingly financial ones as well) I'm trying to teach myself how to
repair stereo equipment - specifically HiHi gear made from about 1976 to
around 2000. Amplifiers in particular from that era are as goos as, and much
better in most cases - anything that you can buy from most non-specialist
audio stores and, crucially for me, aren't made with SM components and
lead-free solder. (Meaning that they can be repaired by hand.)

I think that, especially with 'retro-chic' and the fact that trained repair
technitions are a dying breed, there could be a niche there for me -
refurbishing and re-capping 'classic' HiFi gear - but only if I can keep
audio gear from that period out of the landfills!

In my own life I have a clothes drier that must be 40+ years old. It's one
of the very first 'electronic' driers that came onto the market (at least in
NZ) - a Kelvinator 405 E. Electronics were so new then that it has a
stylised atom logo with orbiting electrons. I've repaired it several times
over the years - and it was made to be repairable. I've stuck with it so
long as it has a heat-sensor that's positioned in the exhaust air so that,
when the clothes are dry (you can turn a knob to set exactly *how* dry you
want them) it switches to 10 minutes of cool tumbling, then stops. No
guessing with a timer and wasting huge amounts of power. I don't plan on
replacing it soon but then again I only use it a few times a year these
days. There's no way that a modern drier could be made to last as long as
this one has lasted.

I also drive a 28 year-old car.... Similarly the automobile industry has
adopted planned obsolescence so anything much newer wouldn't last anywhere
near as long. I do what I can, where I can to rebel against it but it's not
even a drop in the ocean.

To return to the point of this thread - I saw that someone else suggested
that you buy a new LCD LED TV with built-in Freeview and I'm afraid that I
concurr. It's really the only thing that makes sense. There's no point
throwing money at an older TV that's going to keep failing every year -
especially one that's going to be horrendously expensive to repair like a
Loewe.

The other option is to get a free or near-free CRT TV (with a tube, like
yours) and wait until next year when you'll get a free Freeview box. However
you'll always be behind the 8-ball if you stay with a CRT TV now that yours
is playing up. The disadvantage to doing this latter thing is that you'll
still be using old technology that isn't designed to last, with a seperate
'set-top' box and a tangle of wires - complexity that I'm sure you don't
need.

My advice Geo, for what it's worth, is to buy a Samsung LED LCD TV with
built-in Freeview. Going with an LED one will give you a better picture and
cost less power to run and Samsung have proved to be a reliable company in
my experience.

I know that you're at the mercy of 'the TV man' to a large extent but don't
foget that any advice he gives you is going to be coloured by the fact that
he wants to continue to make a living off you (and his other customers). His
advice might not be the best advice for you.

If you do decide to get a new TV and are confused by the bewildering array
of choices (and who isn't?) *and* if there's nobody from these groups who
lives nearer to you who can go shopping with you or check on prices etc. amd
advise you I humbly offer my assistance - even if it only consists of
researching what I think is the best TV for you to buy. However, if you need
the help and it's not forthcoming from someone more local to you I'm
prepared to come shopping with you, advise you and bargain on your behalf.

Best,
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long, way when religious belief has a
cozy little classification in the DSM."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)

"~misfit~" <> wrote in message
news:jqoupa$6rj$...
> Somewhere on teh intarwebs Geopelia wrote:
>> The TV man called. When he took the cover off and switched the power
>> on, there were bright sparks of thousands of volts sparking and
>> banging away inside. It was the things at the back of the tube. The
>> wire is the one that carries an enormous voltage and sticks on to the
>> back of the tube.
>> He cut out the burnt wire and got the power going, but has had to
>> take the inners away to see what else may have been damaged. He says
>> the new electronic stuff damages more than the old valves.
>>
>> He's going to let us know what it would cost to repair. If it's
>> possible and reasonable we will have it done, otherwise we will get a
>> new set.
>> That will be our fourth since the 1960s. We started with a small
>> black and white one.
>> Three sets in fifty years or so isn't bad. And the others were still
>> working when we replaced them.
>
> Hi Geopelia,
>
> Sadly the days of appliances that last for 20+ years are long gone.
> Sometime before you bought that last set pretty much every company
> world-wide started designing a planned life-span into their products. With
> the cheapest brands it's usually not much longer than the warranty period.
> If you pay a bit (or a lot) more you might get two to five years on top of
> the warranty period before they fail. It's actually quite easy for the
> companies to do this and do it they do!
>
> Also, with the exception of a small number of minor faults, it's not worth
> getting post ~1995 electical appliances repaired as, if you replace one
> faulty module it still won't be long until the next one fails, then the
> next.... (There's little repairing going on these days, it's all module
> replacement.) The companies do this as they need people to buy product so
> that they can stay in business. Back when you and I were young the
> companies could build great, long-lasting products and would get more
> business by word-of-mouth, happy customers telling their friends.
>
> That was back in the days when most people didn't have a [insert appliance
> of choice here], it was a brave new world and people were becoming more
> prosperous and technology was able to make their lives easier.
> Unfortunately these days, at least in 'developed' countries, most everyone
> already has that appliance and the only way to get another sale is if it
> fails. It's called built-in (or planned) obsolescence.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Built-i...and_durability
>
> I deplore this state of affairs but, until the landfills are taller than
> the skyscrapers, I don't see it changing without legislation - and that's
> unlikely to happen as long as elections cost money so need donations from
> business.
>
> In some instances, like computers (at least up until the lasy few years)
> and televisions it's not quite as bas as the jobs required of them are
> changing quickly, so older hardware often leaves its owner living with
> some serious conpromises. However, once digital TV achieves market
> saturation and now that home PCs are plenty powerful enough to do anything
> that could be asked of them by the home user in the foreseeable future
> there will be no excuse for those fields either.
>
> Personally, as I'm basically house-bound (not just for medical reasons but
> also increasingly financial ones as well) I'm trying to teach myself how
> to repair stereo equipment - specifically HiHi gear made from about 1976
> to around 2000. Amplifiers in particular from that era are as goos as, and
> much better in most cases - anything that you can buy from most
> non-specialist audio stores and, crucially for me, aren't made with SM
> components and lead-free solder. (Meaning that they can be repaired by
> hand.)
>
> I think that, especially with 'retro-chic' and the fact that trained
> repair technitions are a dying breed, there could be a niche there for
> me - refurbishing and re-capping 'classic' HiFi gear - but only if I can
> keep audio gear from that period out of the landfills!
>
> In my own life I have a clothes drier that must be 40+ years old. It's one
> of the very first 'electronic' driers that came onto the market (at least
> in NZ) - a Kelvinator 405 E. Electronics were so new then that it has a
> stylised atom logo with orbiting electrons. I've repaired it several times
> over the years - and it was made to be repairable. I've stuck with it so
> long as it has a heat-sensor that's positioned in the exhaust air so that,
> when the clothes are dry (you can turn a knob to set exactly *how* dry you
> want them) it switches to 10 minutes of cool tumbling, then stops. No
> guessing with a timer and wasting huge amounts of power. I don't plan on
> replacing it soon but then again I only use it a few times a year these
> days. There's no way that a modern drier could be made to last as long as
> this one has lasted.
>
> I also drive a 28 year-old car.... Similarly the automobile industry has
> adopted planned obsolescence so anything much newer wouldn't last anywhere
> near as long. I do what I can, where I can to rebel against it but it's
> not even a drop in the ocean.
>
> To return to the point of this thread - I saw that someone else suggested
> that you buy a new LCD LED TV with built-in Freeview and I'm afraid that I
> concurr. It's really the only thing that makes sense. There's no point
> throwing money at an older TV that's going to keep failing every year -
> especially one that's going to be horrendously expensive to repair like a
> Loewe.
>
> The other option is to get a free or near-free CRT TV (with a tube, like
> yours) and wait until next year when you'll get a free Freeview box.
> However you'll always be behind the 8-ball if you stay with a CRT TV now
> that yours is playing up. The disadvantage to doing this latter thing is
> that you'll still be using old technology that isn't designed to last,
> with a seperate 'set-top' box and a tangle of wires - complexity that I'm
> sure you don't need.
>
> My advice Geo, for what it's worth, is to buy a Samsung LED LCD TV with
> built-in Freeview. Going with an LED one will give you a better picture
> and cost less power to run and Samsung have proved to be a reliable
> company in my experience.
>
> I know that you're at the mercy of 'the TV man' to a large extent but
> don't foget that any advice he gives you is going to be coloured by the
> fact that he wants to continue to make a living off you (and his other
> customers). His advice might not be the best advice for you.
>
> If you do decide to get a new TV and are confused by the bewildering array
> of choices (and who isn't?) *and* if there's nobody from these groups who
> lives nearer to you who can go shopping with you or check on prices etc.
> amd advise you I humbly offer my assistance - even if it only consists of
> researching what I think is the best TV for you to buy. However, if you
> need the help and it's not forthcoming from someone more local to you I'm
> prepared to come shopping with you, advise you and bargain on your behalf.

Thank you, that's very kind.

The TV man found a chip had been damaged and has got it going now, he's
bringing it back today or tomorrow. I don't know the name of the chip yet.
We'll keep this one for a while unless it breaks down again, it is quite a
while yet before the change over, and I think we will get a Samsung then
from The Good Guys, it depends on whether they deliver and set it up etc.
We've found them very good for other items, and they are handy locally.
Hubby likes them.

Your advice is much appreciated
Geopelia

On Jun 7, 1:05*pm, "~misfit~" <shaun.at.pukek...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Somewhere on teh intarwebs Geopelia wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > The TV man called. When he took the cover off and switched the power
> > on, there were bright sparks of thousands of volts sparking and
> > banging away inside. It was the things at the back of the tube. The
> > wire is the one that carries an enormous voltage and sticks on to the
> > back of the tube.
> > He cut out the burnt wire and got the power going, but has had to
> > take the inners away to see what else may have been damaged. He says
> > the new electronic stuff damages more than the old valves.
>
> > He's going to let us know what it would cost to repair. If it's
> > possible and reasonable we will have it done, otherwise we will get a
> > new set.
> > That will be our fourth since the 1960s. We started with a small
> > black and white one.
> > Three sets in fifty years or so isn't bad. And the others were still
> > working when we replaced them.
>
> Hi Geopelia,
>
> Sadly the days of appliances that last for 20+ years are long gone. Sometime
> before you bought that last set pretty much every company world-wide started
> designing a planned life-span into their products. With the cheapest brands
> it's usually not much longer than the warranty period. If you pay a bit (or
> a lot) more you might get two to five years on top of the warranty period
> before they fail. It's actually quite easy for the companies to do this and
> do it they do!

Quite so.

However the Hyundai SD 42" plasma that I purchased back in 2006 is,
much to my annoyance, still going strong!

With TVs, the technology has advanced so quickly, that it actually
doesn't matter if they only last 5 years. My 5 year old TV is now
totally obsolete - SD only, and no digital tuner!

>
> Also, with the exception of a small number of minor faults, it's not worth
> getting post ~1995 electical appliances repaired as, if you replace one
> faulty module it still won't be long until the next one fails, then the
> next.... (There's little repairing going on these days, it's all module
> replacement.) The companies do this as they need people to buy product so
> that they can stay in business. Back when you and I were young the companies
> could build great, long-lasting products and would get more business by
> word-of-mouth, happy customers telling their friends.
>
> That was back in the days when most people didn't have a [insert appliance
> of choice here], it was a brave new world and people were becoming more
> prosperous and technology was able to make their lives easier. Unfortunately
> these days, at least in 'developed' countries, most everyone already has
> that appliance and the only way to get another sale is if it fails. It's
> called built-in (or planned) obsolescence.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Built-i...lescence_and_d...
>
> I deplore this state of affairs but, until the landfills are taller than the
> skyscrapers, I don't see it changing without legislation - and that's
> unlikely to happen as long as elections cost money so need donations from
> business.
>
> In some instances, like computers (at least up until the lasy few years) and
> televisions it's not quite as bas as the jobs required of them are changing
> quickly, so older hardware often leaves its owner living with some serious
> conpromises. However, once digital TV achieves market saturation and now
> that home PCs are plenty powerful enough to do anything that could be asked
> of them by the home user in the foreseeable future there will be no excuse
> for those fields either.
>
> Personally, as I'm basically house-bound (not just for medical reasons but
> also increasingly financial ones as well) I'm trying to teach myself how to
> repair stereo equipment - specifically HiHi gear made from about 1976 to
> around 2000. Amplifiers in particular from that era are as goos as, and much
> better in most cases - anything that you can buy from most non-specialist
> audio stores and, crucially for me, aren't made with SM components and
> lead-free solder. (Meaning that they can be repaired by hand.)
>
> I think that, especially with 'retro-chic' and the fact that trained repair
> technitions are a dying breed, there could be a niche there for me -
> refurbishing and re-capping 'classic' HiFi gear - but only if I can keep
> audio gear from that period out of the landfills!
>
> In my own life I have a clothes drier that must be 40+ years old. It's one
> of the very first 'electronic' driers that came onto the market (at leastin
> NZ) - a Kelvinator 405 E. Electronics were so new then that it has a
> stylised atom logo with orbiting electrons. I've repaired it several times
> over the years - and it was made to be repairable. I've stuck with it so
> long as it has a heat-sensor that's positioned in the exhaust air so that,
> when the clothes are dry (you can turn a knob to set exactly *how* dry you
> want them) it switches to 10 minutes of cool tumbling, then stops. No
> guessing with a timer and wasting huge amounts of power. I don't plan on
> replacing it soon but then again I only use it a few times a year these
> days. There's no way that a modern drier could be made to last as long as
> this one has lasted.
>
> I also drive a 28 year-old car.... Similarly the automobile industry has
> adopted planned obsolescence so anything much newer wouldn't last anywhere
> near as long. I do what I can, where I can to rebel against it but it's not
> even a drop in the ocean.
>
> To return to the point of this thread - I saw that someone else suggested
> that you buy a new LCD LED TV with built-in Freeview and I'm afraid that I
> concurr. It's really the only thing that makes sense. There's no point
> throwing money at an older TV that's going to keep failing every year -
> especially one that's going to be horrendously expensive to repair like a
> Loewe.
>
> The other option is to get a free or near-free CRT TV (with a tube, like
> yours) and wait until next year when you'll get a free Freeview box. However
> you'll always be behind the 8-ball if you stay with a CRT TV now that yours
> is playing up. The disadvantage to doing this latter thing is that you'll
> still be using old technology that isn't designed to last, with a seperate
> 'set-top' box and a tangle of wires - complexity that I'm sure you don't
> need.
>
> My advice Geo, for what it's worth, is to buy a Samsung LED LCD TV with
> built-in Freeview. Going with an LED one will give you a better picture and
> cost less power to run and Samsung have proved to be a reliable company in
> my experience.
>
> I know that you're at the mercy of 'the TV man' to a large extent but don't
> foget that any advice he gives you is going to be coloured by the fact that
> he wants to continue to make a living off you (and his other customers). His
> advice might not be the best advice for you.
>
> If you do decide to get a new TV and are confused by the bewildering array
> of choices (and who isn't?) *and* if there's nobody from these groups who
> lives nearer to you who can go shopping with you or check on prices etc. amd
> advise you I humbly offer my assistance - even if it only consists of
> researching what I think is the best TV for you to buy. However, if you need
> the help and it's not forthcoming from someone more local to you I'm
> prepared to come shopping with you, advise you and bargain on your behalf..
>
> Best,
> --
> Shaun.
>
> "Humans will have advanced a long, long, way when religious belief has a
> cozy little classification in the DSM."
> David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)

On Jun 7, 2:37*pm, "Geopelia" <Geope...@nowhere.com> wrote:
> "~misfit~" <shaun.at.pukek...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:jqoupa$6rj$...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Somewhere on teh intarwebs Geopelia wrote:
> >> The TV man called. When he took the cover off and switched the power
> >> on, there were bright sparks of thousands of volts sparking and
> >> banging away inside. It was the things at the back of the tube. The
> >> wire is the one that carries an enormous voltage and sticks on to the
> >> back of the tube.
> >> He cut out the burnt wire and got the power going, but has had to
> >> take the inners away to see what else may have been damaged. He says
> >> the new electronic stuff damages more than the old valves.
>
> >> He's going to let us know what it would cost to repair. If it's
> >> possible and reasonable we will have it done, otherwise we will get a
> >> new set.
> >> That will be our fourth since the 1960s. We started with a small
> >> black and white one.
> >> Three sets in fifty years or so isn't bad. And the others were still
> >> working when we replaced them.
>
> > Hi Geopelia,
>
> > Sadly the days of appliances that last for 20+ years are long gone.
> > Sometime before you bought that last set pretty much every company
> > world-wide started designing a planned life-span into their products. With
> > the cheapest brands it's usually not much longer than the warranty period.
> > If you pay a bit (or a lot) more you might get two to five years on topof
> > the warranty period before they fail. It's actually quite easy for the
> > companies to do this and do it they do!
>
> > Also, with the exception of a small number of minor faults, it's not worth
> > getting post ~1995 electical appliances repaired as, if you replace one
> > faulty module it still won't be long until the next one fails, then the
> > next.... (There's little repairing going on these days, it's all module
> > replacement.) The companies do this as they need people to buy product so
> > that they can stay in business. Back when you and I were young the
> > companies could build great, long-lasting products and would get more
> > business by word-of-mouth, happy customers telling their friends.
>
> > That was back in the days when most people didn't have a [insert appliance
> > of choice here], it was a brave new world and people were becoming more
> > prosperous and technology was able to make their lives easier.
> > Unfortunately these days, at least in 'developed' countries, most everyone
> > already has that appliance and the only way to get another sale is if it
> > fails. It's called built-in (or planned) obsolescence.
> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Built-i...lescence_and_d...
>
> > I deplore this state of affairs but, until the landfills are taller than
> > the skyscrapers, I don't see it changing without legislation - and that's
> > unlikely to happen as long as elections cost money so need donations from
> > business.
>
> > In some instances, like computers (at least up until the lasy few years)
> > and televisions it's not quite as bas as the jobs required of them are
> > changing quickly, so older hardware often leaves its owner living with
> > some serious conpromises. However, once digital TV achieves market
> > saturation and now that home PCs are plenty powerful enough to do anything
> > that could be asked of them by the home user in the foreseeable future
> > there will be no excuse for those fields either.
>
> > Personally, as I'm basically house-bound (not just for medical reasons but
> > also increasingly financial ones as well) I'm trying to teach myself how
> > to repair stereo equipment - specifically HiHi gear made from about 1976
> > to around 2000. Amplifiers in particular from that era are as goos as, and
> > much better in most cases - anything that you can buy from most
> > non-specialist audio stores and, crucially for me, aren't made with SM
> > components and lead-free solder. (Meaning that they can be repaired by
> > hand.)
>
> > I think that, especially with 'retro-chic' and the fact that trained
> > repair technitions are a dying breed, there could be a niche there for
> > me - refurbishing and re-capping 'classic' HiFi gear - but only if I can
> > keep audio gear from that period out of the landfills!
>
> > In my own life I have a clothes drier that must be 40+ years old. It's one
> > of the very first 'electronic' driers that came onto the market (at least
> > in NZ) - a Kelvinator 405 E. Electronics were so new then that it has a
> > stylised atom logo with orbiting electrons. I've repaired it several times
> > over the years - and it was made to be repairable. I've stuck with it so
> > long as it has a heat-sensor that's positioned in the exhaust air so that,
> > when the clothes are dry (you can turn a knob to set exactly *how* dry you
> > want them) it switches to 10 minutes of cool tumbling, then stops. No
> > guessing with a timer and wasting huge amounts of power. I don't plan on
> > replacing it soon but then again I only use it a few times a year these
> > days. There's no way that a modern drier could be made to last as long as
> > this one has lasted.
>
> > I also drive a 28 year-old car.... Similarly the automobile industry has
> > adopted planned obsolescence so anything much newer wouldn't last anywhere
> > near as long. I do what I can, where I can to rebel against it but it's
> > not even a drop in the ocean.
>
> > To return to the point of this thread - I saw that someone else suggested
> > that you buy a new LCD LED TV with built-in Freeview and I'm afraid that I
> > concurr. It's really the only thing that makes sense. There's no point
> > throwing money at an older TV that's going to keep failing every year -
> > especially one that's going to be horrendously expensive to repair likea
> > Loewe.
>
> > The other option is to get a free or near-free CRT TV (with a tube, like
> > yours) and wait until next year when you'll get a free Freeview box.
> > However you'll always be behind the 8-ball if you stay with a CRT TV now
> > that yours is playing up. The disadvantage to doing this latter thing is
> > that you'll still be using old technology that isn't designed to last,
> > with a seperate 'set-top' box and a tangle of wires - complexity that I'm
> > sure you don't need.
>
> > My advice Geo, for what it's worth, is to buy a Samsung LED LCD TV with
> > built-in Freeview. Going with an LED one will give you a better picture
> > and cost less power to run and Samsung have proved to be a reliable
> > company in my experience.
>
> > I know that you're at the mercy of 'the TV man' to a large extent but
> > don't foget that any advice he gives you is going to be coloured by the
> > fact that he wants to continue to make a living off you (and his other
> > customers). His advice might not be the best advice for you.
>
> > If you do decide to get a new TV and are confused by the bewildering array
> > of choices (and who isn't?) *and* if there's nobody from these groups who
> > lives nearer to you who can go shopping with you or check on prices etc..
> > amd advise you I humbly offer my assistance - even if it only consists of
> > researching what I think is the best TV for you to buy. However, if you
> > need the help and it's not forthcoming from someone more local to you I'm
> > prepared to come shopping with you, advise you and bargain on your behalf.
>
> Thank you, that's very kind.
>
> The TV man found a chip had been damaged and has got it going now, he's
> bringing it back today or tomorrow. I don't know the name of the chip yet..
> We'll keep this one for a while unless it breaks down again, it is quite a
> while yet before the change over, and I think we will get a Samsung then
> from The Good Guys, it depends on whether they deliver and set it up etc.
> We've found them very good for other items, and they are handy locally.
> Hubby likes them.
>
> Your advice is much appreciated
> Geopelia

Sounds like you are sorted, Geo. And by the time analog TV closes
down. LCD TV's will have plummeted even further in price.

On Thu, 7 Jun 2012 14:37:11 +1200, "Geopelia" <>
wrote:

>
>"~misfit~" <> wrote in message
>news:jqoupa$6rj$...
>> Somewhere on teh intarwebs Geopelia wrote:
>>> The TV man called. When he took the cover off and switched the power
>>> on, there were bright sparks of thousands of volts sparking and
>>> banging away inside. It was the things at the back of the tube. The
>>> wire is the one that carries an enormous voltage and sticks on to the
>>> back of the tube.
>>> He cut out the burnt wire and got the power going, but has had to
>>> take the inners away to see what else may have been damaged. He says
>>> the new electronic stuff damages more than the old valves.
>>>
>>> He's going to let us know what it would cost to repair. If it's
>>> possible and reasonable we will have it done, otherwise we will get a
>>> new set.
>>> That will be our fourth since the 1960s. We started with a small
>>> black and white one.
>>> Three sets in fifty years or so isn't bad. And the others were still
>>> working when we replaced them.
>>
>> Hi Geopelia,
>>
>> Sadly the days of appliances that last for 20+ years are long gone.
>> Sometime before you bought that last set pretty much every company
>> world-wide started designing a planned life-span into their products. With
>> the cheapest brands it's usually not much longer than the warranty period.
>> If you pay a bit (or a lot) more you might get two to five years on top of
>> the warranty period before they fail. It's actually quite easy for the
>> companies to do this and do it they do!
>>
>> Also, with the exception of a small number of minor faults, it's not worth
>> getting post ~1995 electical appliances repaired as, if you replace one
>> faulty module it still won't be long until the next one fails, then the
>> next.... (There's little repairing going on these days, it's all module
>> replacement.) The companies do this as they need people to buy product so
>> that they can stay in business. Back when you and I were young the
>> companies could build great, long-lasting products and would get more
>> business by word-of-mouth, happy customers telling their friends.
>>
>> That was back in the days when most people didn't have a [insert appliance
>> of choice here], it was a brave new world and people were becoming more
>> prosperous and technology was able to make their lives easier.
>> Unfortunately these days, at least in 'developed' countries, most everyone
>> already has that appliance and the only way to get another sale is if it
>> fails. It's called built-in (or planned) obsolescence.
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Built-i...and_durability
>>
>> I deplore this state of affairs but, until the landfills are taller than
>> the skyscrapers, I don't see it changing without legislation - and that's
>> unlikely to happen as long as elections cost money so need donations from
>> business.
>>
>> In some instances, like computers (at least up until the lasy few years)
>> and televisions it's not quite as bas as the jobs required of them are
>> changing quickly, so older hardware often leaves its owner living with
>> some serious conpromises. However, once digital TV achieves market
>> saturation and now that home PCs are plenty powerful enough to do anything
>> that could be asked of them by the home user in the foreseeable future
>> there will be no excuse for those fields either.
>>
>> Personally, as I'm basically house-bound (not just for medical reasons but
>> also increasingly financial ones as well) I'm trying to teach myself how
>> to repair stereo equipment - specifically HiHi gear made from about 1976
>> to around 2000. Amplifiers in particular from that era are as goos as, and
>> much better in most cases - anything that you can buy from most
>> non-specialist audio stores and, crucially for me, aren't made with SM
>> components and lead-free solder. (Meaning that they can be repaired by
>> hand.)
>>
>> I think that, especially with 'retro-chic' and the fact that trained
>> repair technitions are a dying breed, there could be a niche there for
>> me - refurbishing and re-capping 'classic' HiFi gear - but only if I can
>> keep audio gear from that period out of the landfills!
>>
>> In my own life I have a clothes drier that must be 40+ years old. It's one
>> of the very first 'electronic' driers that came onto the market (at least
>> in NZ) - a Kelvinator 405 E. Electronics were so new then that it has a
>> stylised atom logo with orbiting electrons. I've repaired it several times
>> over the years - and it was made to be repairable. I've stuck with it so
>> long as it has a heat-sensor that's positioned in the exhaust air so that,
>> when the clothes are dry (you can turn a knob to set exactly *how* dry you
>> want them) it switches to 10 minutes of cool tumbling, then stops. No
>> guessing with a timer and wasting huge amounts of power. I don't plan on
>> replacing it soon but then again I only use it a few times a year these
>> days. There's no way that a modern drier could be made to last as long as
>> this one has lasted.
>>
>> I also drive a 28 year-old car.... Similarly the automobile industry has
>> adopted planned obsolescence so anything much newer wouldn't last anywhere
>> near as long. I do what I can, where I can to rebel against it but it's
>> not even a drop in the ocean.
>>
>> To return to the point of this thread - I saw that someone else suggested
>> that you buy a new LCD LED TV with built-in Freeview and I'm afraid that I
>> concurr. It's really the only thing that makes sense. There's no point
>> throwing money at an older TV that's going to keep failing every year -
>> especially one that's going to be horrendously expensive to repair like a
>> Loewe.
>>
>> The other option is to get a free or near-free CRT TV (with a tube, like
>> yours) and wait until next year when you'll get a free Freeview box.
>> However you'll always be behind the 8-ball if you stay with a CRT TV now
>> that yours is playing up. The disadvantage to doing this latter thing is
>> that you'll still be using old technology that isn't designed to last,
>> with a seperate 'set-top' box and a tangle of wires - complexity that I'm
>> sure you don't need.
>>
>> My advice Geo, for what it's worth, is to buy a Samsung LED LCD TV with
>> built-in Freeview. Going with an LED one will give you a better picture
>> and cost less power to run and Samsung have proved to be a reliable
>> company in my experience.
>>
>> I know that you're at the mercy of 'the TV man' to a large extent but
>> don't foget that any advice he gives you is going to be coloured by the
>> fact that he wants to continue to make a living off you (and his other
>> customers). His advice might not be the best advice for you.
>>
>> If you do decide to get a new TV and are confused by the bewildering array
>> of choices (and who isn't?) *and* if there's nobody from these groups who
>> lives nearer to you who can go shopping with you or check on prices etc.
>> amd advise you I humbly offer my assistance - even if it only consists of
>> researching what I think is the best TV for you to buy. However, if you
>> need the help and it's not forthcoming from someone more local to you I'm
>> prepared to come shopping with you, advise you and bargain on your behalf.
>
>Thank you, that's very kind.
>
>The TV man found a chip had been damaged and has got it going now, he's
>bringing it back today or tomorrow. I don't know the name of the chip yet.
>We'll keep this one for a while unless it breaks down again, it is quite a
>while yet before the change over, and I think we will get a Samsung then
>from The Good Guys, it depends on whether they deliver and set it up etc.
>We've found them very good for other items, and they are handy locally.
>Hubby likes them.
>
>Your advice is much appreciated
>Geopelia
>



Yes the Samsung's have USB port that lets you play many Video formats,
Sony and Panasonic don't

Plus never ever think about Sony even a shop that sells them think they
are Crap, they don't come with a Manual its all in the TV, very hard to
read the manual and set it up as you cant do both.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs JohnO wrote:
> On Jun 7, 1:05 pm, "~misfit~" <shaun.at.pukek...@gmail.com> wrote:
[snip]
>> Sadly the days of appliances that last for 20+ years are long gone.
>> Sometime
>> before you bought that last set pretty much every company world-wide
>> started
>> designing a planned life-span into their products. With the cheapest
>> brands
>> it's usually not much longer than the warranty period. If you pay a
>> bit (or
>> a lot) more you might get two to five years on top of the warranty
>> period
>> before they fail. It's actually quite easy for the companies to do
>> this and
>> do it they do!
>
> Quite so.
>
> However the Hyundai SD 42" plasma that I purchased back in 2006 is,
> much to my annoyance, still going strong!

Heh! It's not often you hear of folks complaining because their appliances
*haven't* broken down.

> With TVs, the technology has advanced so quickly, that it actually
> doesn't matter if they only last 5 years. My 5 year old TV is now
> totally obsolete - SD only, and no digital tuner!

Yep, as I said further down in my post to Geopelia both PCs and TVs seem to
have now reached a plateau where an average PC of today's specs will do
anything most people could want in the foreseeable future and, with TVs
(other than 3D <barf>) a good 32" or better 1080p LCD LED TV (Samsung 5
Series being my pick) with freeview tuner should last many years as far as
technological advances go.

As said, I feel that we've reached a plateau now and, as long as you've got
the above specs or better I don't think you'll be busting to upgrade anytime
in the near future.

As usual, all in my opinion only.
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long, way when religious belief has a
cozy little classification in the DSM."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)

The TV man has put the TV back together and it's working as well as ever -
touch wood.
The chip is TDA2177 or something near that. The sparking had affected it.

He will come and install a new TV if the firm I buy one from doesn't have
their own installer.
So we will hang on and see what happens with this one for now.

Hubby is delighted it's back, he was lost without it. Now we can watch the
Rugby!

Thanks to all.
Geopelia